/ 26 June 2014

Building mineral wealth

Tshililo Masutha.
Tshililo Masutha.

The final Centre of Excellence (CoE) of the new cohort of centres launched was the CoE for Integrated Mineral and Energy Resource Analysis (Cimera), hosted by the University of Johannesburg. It will promote collaboration between South African economic geology research units, such as the university’s Paleoproterozoic Mineralisation Centre and the Economic Geology Research Institute of the University of the Witwatersrand.

The CoE’s chief objective will be to develop an integrated understanding of some of the country’s major and minor mineral and fossil energy resources and their geometallurgical characteristics, to ensure the sustainable extraction of resources, while preventing and mitigating negative environmental effects.

Delivering the keynote address at the launch, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Michael Masutha said: “No industry is more closely linked to South Africa’s economic psyche than the mining and minerals sector, which has defined the country’s social and economic landscape since the 1800s.” 

He challenged the new CoE to build a representative cohort of South African researchers.

Cimera director Professor Nic Beukes described the CoE’s eight key research areas: the metallogenesis of early Earth mineral systems; South Africa’s superlative mineral resources; fossil energy resources of sedimentary basins; small-scale mining operations in Africa; critical metals of the future; new bulk mineral resource developments in Africa; environmental and medical geology; and public awareness and education. 

From its research findings, the CoE will make available information to policy makers and the community, pertaining to mineral and fossil fuel deposits in general. This could include, for instance, information that could inform policy decisions on allocation of mineral rights and infrastructure development; information that could potentially attract foreign investments; and information pertaining to mineral and fossil fuel deposits that are too small for large mining houses to be interested in, but which would be ideal for the establishment of small mining operations by local communities.  This would foster further development of the small-scale mining sector in South Africa.

The centre will collaborate with Rhodes University, Stellenbosch University, University of Fort Hare, University of Pretoria and University of Venda.

The contents of this supplement were supplied and signed off by the National Research Foundation.